Betta Force
by be-nice-to-nerds
Summary: Alpha Force are sailing the waters south of New-Zealand when history repeats itself and they are stranded on a desert island. But Hex is not the only genius in the family, and unbeknownst to the team, their younger siblings are trapped there too.
1. Prolouge

**I have severe writers block on my other fic so I decided to put this one up.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Alpha Force; however, I do own Ben, Eliza, Tim, Tom and Alex. I also own the plot.**

Prologue

Meet the team:

**Ben: **A bookworm and a human dictionary, Ben has genius IQ and knows a bit about nearly anything. Although he is an asthmatic and had to have an operation at a young age, years of skateboarding have enhanced his reflexes and his fitness.

**Eliza: **Nearly always to be found hiding from chores underground, Argentinean Eliza is an expert caver. Her skills don't stop there though – her experience on her family's ranch has made her the team's medical expert.

**Tim:**A Maori from New-Zealand, Tim is a person the others picked up on the way. He is their survival expert, knowing how to survive in any bit of his native countries rugged terrain. The sea holds no fear for him either, as he has been sailing small yachts since before he could walk.

**Tom: **The electronics expert of the group, Anglo- Chinese Tom can make anything out of anything. Also an ace inventor, his gadgets have come in useful a number of times.

**Alex: **Expert in Lock Picking and disguise, there is not a security system that Northumbrian Alex and Tom can't get past together. Her agility and strength comes from years of gymnastics and martial arts, and they come in handy for annoying her brother – and more illegal activities.

**As you've probably guessed, I'm trying to make this look as much like the Alpha Force books as possible. Sorry if this doesn't have much in it but the next chapters will. I'll try to get the next chapter up later today.**


	2. Chapter 1

**So here it is, the promised update.**

"Yeah…. Cool…. Yes I'll be allowed… Ok then, I'll see you at the Airport"

Ben looked up from his book. It wasn't often that his brother deserted his precious palmtop and disentangled himself from cyberspace. He presumed that he was talking to Alex or Amber, to make him this exited.

Ben's brother hung up from the phone.

'Mum! Me and Alex are going to meet Amber, Paulo and Li in a few days. Our flight leaves tomorrow."

His mum gave Hex a glance.

"Where exactly are you meeting them?"

The hacker looked at the ground.

"New- Zealand"

Ben grabbed his skateboard from where it was leaning against the wall and made his escape.

* * *

"Alex!"

Hearing the tell-tale signs of her brother's anger, Alex climbed down from the eaves of her bedroom roof and dragged another chair to the pile of things blocking the door.

"What's she done this time?", inquired her big sister calmly.

"That bloody child…" began her brother.

Alex gulped. Her brother only swore when he was really, really angry. Maybe it hadn't been the idea of the century to steal his survival kit and knife.

There were footsteps on the stairs. Quickly, she opened the window and slithered down the drainpipe.

* * *

Tom sat in his room. It was a huge mess but he didn't really care, all of his awareness concentrated on the little pieces of electronics in front of him.

A laptop lay open at the foot of his bed, but he ignored it. He wouldn't need it until much later, when it would be time to program his invention.

His concentration was abruptly broken when his big sister Li cart wheeled into his room, banging into his cabinet and knocking half his inventions of the wall.

"Hey! Those are seriously expensive and unique electronic devises you know!" Tom yelped.

Li smiled. Her brother really reminded her of Hex sometimes. Unfortunately she wasn't here just to tell her very forgetful brother to come down to dinner.

"Earth to Tom!"

Her brother looked up from his jumble of wires.

"What?" he said grumpily.

"Well you know how Alex, Paulo, Hex and Amber are coming down?"

"Yeah" her brother said warily.

"And you know how mum and dad are researching tuatara on Stewart island?" ((**an: Stewart Island is the third island of New-Zealand, right down the bottom**))

"Yeah"

"Well they let us have use of the boat for two weeks."

Tom quickly put two and two together.

"What! I'm coming with you?"

Li sighed. She hated having to baby-sit her little brother.

The aforementioned little brother had an idea. There was that letter someone called Ben had written to him a few weeks ago.

Pulling his laptop over, Tom began to type. This was going to be fun…

**Sorry this is short but I wanted to give you an idea of what they were like and who they are related to. By the way Tim isn't related to any of the original five and well, I think you can guess who Eliza's brother is.**


	3. Chapter 2

**I have had some complaints that the characters abilities are too similar to Alpha Force. As I explained to elledreamer and SuperTD, I have tried to make them as different as possible, both personality wise and ****ability wise. Unfortunately Chris Ryan has already used most of the useful abilities in one form or another. If I make them to different then Betta Force wont be able to survive, which is a pity, seeing as I made the characters myself and they are like my children, no, more like siblings. However, I will probably change Eliza from navigator to medic.**

**Thanks to everyone who reviewed.**

**Sorry for takin****g so long to update, I was busy, and then we had the fire, and then school started again…**

**Anyway, on with the show.**

London, UK, a few weeks earlier:

Ben sat in his room, bored witless. It was snowing outside, as usual for a winter London. He knew he should be feeling happy; Christmas was in a couple of weeks, but he wasn't. Instead, Ben was feeling bored, lonely, and most of all, left out.

He had overheard his brother talking on the phone to Alex – very unusual for the hacker but a stroke of luck for his younger brother. Every time Ben touched a computer it broke down, so he couldn't read Hex's emails.

Unlike what his brother did to him. Ben knew without asking that his brother kept tabs on all his internet communications. That was why he preferred to txt, knowing that even Hex couldn't hack into something that wasn't connected to the internet. It cost him a hell of a lot on his phone bill though. But the privacy was worth it.

The conversation that he had heard, lurking just outside his brother's window, made him very annoyed. Apparently Hex was going to get together with a bunch of friends – Alex, Paulo, Li and Amber. Every holiday he did this, while Ben, the 'baby' of the family, the invalid, had to stay home in bed.

Ben was 'delicate', his mum would claim. He mustn't breathe even a speck of dust in case his asthma played up. Just because he had severe asthma and he had had to have an operation didn't mean he couldn't do anything. Hex had told him about Amber, one of the friends that he was going to see again.

She was an American orphan, the daughter of multimillionaires. Her parents company made software. Amber was a diabetic and had to inject herself twice a day but she didn't let that stop her.

Judging by the way his brother talked about Amber, he had a really big crush on her. Ben grinned evilly. He had a plan, and he had blackmail material too.

Dunedin, New-Zealand, just after the last chapter:

Tom brought the letter out of its hiding place, first checking that his sister wasn't anywhere in site. He knew Li was already annoyed at having to 'baby-sit' him. If she found out what he was planning she would be furious.

He re-read the curious letter that had arrived just after Christmas:

_Dear Tom (don't ask how I know your name),_

_Have you ever wondered what your sister gets up to in the holidays? Why she always comes back covered with cuts, bruises and even broken bones? Who her friends are that she meets?_

_All you probably know is the names of her friends and (sometimes) their location. If so, read on._

_My name is Benjamin Brown. My older brother is Melvin, more commonly known as Hex. Do you recognize that name? If you've spent hours eavesdropping on your sisters phone calls or reading her emails or letters, or even just listened in when she's trying to get your mum's permission to go on her trips, you probably do._

_Just in case you don't know it, here's some info about my brother and about the rest of your sisters friends._

_**Alex: **__He lives in Northumberland, his dad is in the SAS and he seems to want to join as well. Already applied once and he got turned down. He is tall and skinny, with blond hair and blue/grey eyes. His full name is Alexander Craig and he has a sister called Alexandra who is about our age – 13._

_**Li: **__Your sister, so I don't need to mention much._

_**Paulo: **__Now here is a name you probably will recognize. If I presume correctly, your sister fancies him. He is a strongly built Argentinean, with brown curly hair and brown eyes. He has a sister called Eliza – again, 13._

_**Hex: **__My brother, so there will probably be more information on him than on the others. He is an ace hacker, one of the best in cyberspace. He monitors all my internet communications so if you have to email me replies please encode it – securely. He is also very good at code breaking. A Londoner, from the east end. He has brown spiky hair and green eyes. Hex has a little brother called Ben – me. I am also 13._

_**Amber: **__My brother's girlfriend! No, not really but he fancies her, though he manages to hide it quite well. She lives in Boston, Massachusetts, the US. She is the heir to the Middleton software company. Amber has brown hair, brown eyes and brown skin. She is a diabetic, but that doesn't cramp her style. She is an only child._

_Together, they call themselves Alpha Force. I don't know why they called themselves that but one reason might be because ALPHA is made out of the first letters of their names – __**A**__lex, __**L**__i, __**P**__aulo, __**H**__ex, __**A**__mber. Apart from that, I know as much as the next person – unless the next person happens to be one of the aforementioned five, our siblings, Alpha Force._

_Please don't tell your sister anything that is in this letter – if any of our siblings find out, we are dead meat._

_Now we come to the point of this letter – what do they do? Why do they come back looking like they've been in a bullfight?_

_That, my friend, is what we are trying to find out. I have gruelingly searched the internet, the directories, anything to find out about you, the siblings of Alpha Force._

_We should all unite, and host a spy operation to try to find out just what they are hiding. Follow your siblings and try to find out where they are going, and then email me using this simple cipher._

_A q/_

_B__ g_

_C d  
D 3  
E x/9  
F r  
G t  
H y  
I 8/  
J u  
K o  
L s  
M j  
N h  
O 7/1  
P 0_

_Q __1_

_R __4_

_S b/) _

_T 5/p_

_U n/&_

_V f_

_W 2_

_X i_

_Y y_

_Z k_

_There are no rules. U don't have 2 spel rite, u cn use chtspk. __If you want to you can spell out numbers, or just write them out._

_Email me at my email that Hex doesn't know, davincicoderoks (hotmail) but encipher it anyway. By the way I am not a die hard fan of the Da Vinci code but I needed to think of a really random email address with no links to me._

_While you are emailing me also email Eliza and Alex (Alexandra, not Alexander)._

_Their emails - Eliza is ElizaS (gmail)_

_And - Alex is proudtheif (hotmail)_

_Good luck with the spy work,_

_Ben. _

Tom grinned evily to himself. He was as eager as anyone to find out what his sibling did every holiday, and now he was about to find out. The thirteen year old opened an email window on his laptop and began to write…


	4. Chapter 3

**Sorry about not updating for ages.**

Auckland, New-Zealand, A few weeks after the last chapter:

The customs line at Auckland airport stretched out into the bag terminal – not unusual, but very annoying, especially if you weren't used to it. Alex didn't see why they had to have all those biosecurity rules anyway.

Sure, New-Zealand wanted to protect their ecosystem, but…

_There you are, _said the sensible voice in her head that sounded annoyingly like her brother. "Oh shut up", she growled to herself, quickly sneaking a glance around to check that no one had spotted her talking to herself.

The queue for getting through biosecurity inched slowly towards the exit. Alex sighed impatiently. She was supposed to meet back up with Ben and try to find that Eliza girl before catching their flight to Dunedin in about an hour.

At the rate this line was going, it didn't look like that would happen anytime soon.

* * *

Eliza had been waiting outside the customs door for about half an hour now, and she had started to get really, really bored.

There is, after all, a limit to the things you can do while waiting for people you don't even know to get out of customs.

Things were made worse by the fact that everyone was speaking English, and while Eliza knew enough of it to function, she definitely preferred speaking in Spanish.

"Eliza! Is that you?" A boy with green eyes and floppy brown hair ran over to her.

"Are you Ben?", she asked.

"Sì" **(1)**, he answered.

"Hablo español?"**(2)**, Eliza questioned, shocked. She didn't think that an English person would know Spanish.

"A little", Ben replied, switching to English. "I've been learning Spanish for about a year now."

Eliza nodded. "Do you need any help? Spanish is my mother tongue, so maybe I could help you learn it better. You could help me with English, too."

Ben grinned. "I'd like that, but you don't seem to need much help with English. You speak it really well, to be honest."

The Caver looked down at the ground. She wasn't used to getting complimented on her English.

Quickly changing the subject, Eliza asked "Where is that girl – Alex, I think she's called. Didn't she arrive on the same plane as you?"

"You're right", said Ben thoughtfully. "But maybe she just got held up in biosecurity or something. You know how long those lines are."

"True", agreed Eliza.

"Well speak of the Devil." Exclaimed Ben, as he saw a girl with long blonde hair walking towards them.

The Argentinean looked confused. "English is my second language, you know…"

"Oh, sorry. I forgot about that."

Eliza didn't know whether she should feel insulted, complimented or amused. In The end she settled for a variation of all three.

"Explanation, please."

"Well, speak of the devil is what a lot of people say if you're just talking about someone and then they turn up."

Satisfied with that explanation, Eliza turned to greet the person she presumed was Alex.

* * *

Dunedin, Auckland:

Alpha Force were finally back together again, and excited about their boat trip that was leaving tomorrow.

At the moment, they were all in the living room of Li's rented house. Paulo was sprawled on the floor staring into the fire. Hex had perched himself on the edge of an armchair, typing furiously on his palmtop.

No one spoke; there was no need to speak. Alpha Force were just happy to sit by the fire in a comfortable silence.

Suddenly the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it!" Li's little brother Tom zoomed downstairs and ran to open the door.

Li looked at his retreating back with suspicion.

"Is he always like that?", asked Alex curiously.

"Nope", Li replied. "I have no idea why he's started shadowing the door."

Voices came from outside as Tom opened the door.

"Hi. I'm Tim, and I'm here for the boat. My Uncle is the person who lent it to you, and he ants me to come along and keep an eye on it."

The five members of Alpha Force looked curiously outside as Tim and Tom started to talk.

Tim seemed to be a Maori boy, taller than Tom but about his age.

"Oh no", groaned Li. "Now there are two of them!"

**So, now that all the cast has been assembled its time for the real action to begin!**

**From my limited Spanish (I've been learning it for about half a year) what they said was:**

**(1) yes**

**(2) Do you speak Spanish?**

**Until next time**

**BNTN**


	5. Chapter 4

Just off the coast of New-Zealand, a day after the last chapter:

Tom officially hated sailing. It was right up there with exams, the beep test **(1) **and people stuffing around on his laptop.

They had been on the voyage for about half a day, and he had spent most of it being sick over the side. The one thing he was grateful for was that he didn't have to stow away like Ben or the girls.

They were probably happy too, actually. They probably wouldn't like having to share their already crowded quarters with another person and a lot of vomit.

He wouldn't either, if he wasn't feeling so blinking sick!

The boat went over a particularly choppy wave and Tom leaned over the railing again, retching.

He was so focused on his misery that he didn't hear Tim come up behind him until he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder.

"Hi", Tom said without looking around – he knew that the second he turned away from the edge he would need to be sick again. Murphy's law.

Tim grinned despite himself.

"I don't see why even though you've practically traveled the world, you still get sea-sick." He remarked dryly. "I'm envious of the girls, who don't have to share a tiny cabin with you and your weak stomach."

Tom glanced around quickly to make sure that no one was within earshot. Luckily, the closest was Li, way up in the riggings. His nausea doubled by the motion, and Tom's stomach rose into his mouth.

"Shhhh!", he hissed after retching a few more times, which rather ruined his point, "we don't want anyone to hear you!"

After much heated debate, the stowaways had decided to let Tim into the secret. This made it easier for Tom to smuggle food in less noticeably. It also made the cabins slightly less cramped. Now there were two (regrettably small) cabins for five people instead of one for four.

Having two people out in the open eavesdropping whenever they could also helped, especially as Tim was a crucial part of the crew and Tom was so busy spewing up that half the time no one really noticed him – other than Tim, of course.

The other three also played their part in spying on Alpha Force. Ben, Eliza and Alex could have access to conversations that would be finished the second any of their siblings saw Tom or Tim within earshot, or even the distance required to read lips.

Alex, in particular excelled at this. All that practice at winding her brother up by stealing his survival kit (and knife, if she was feeling particularly suicidal) had paid off and now she could stand less than a metre away from her target and still not be noticed.

If Tim didn't know better, he'd swear that she had become part of the shadows. No matter how many times he watched her do it, secretly so as not to give their cover away, he was still amazed.

* * *

All of the five conspirators had been squashed into Tom's cabin, the owner of which was huddled by the door clutching a bucket. Tim was the only one sitting comfortably, as the other three had to be able to roll out of site at a moments notice and Tom was too miserable to get comfortable – or indeed care if he was.

Ben raped on the side of the small bed with his knuckles.

"I call to order the latest meeting of YLSUDT to order!"

Alex looked at him quizzically. "YLSUDT? What the hell is that?"

"Young and Left-out Siblings Unite to Discover the Truth", replied Ben as if it were obvious.

"Man, we seriously need to find a name for ourselves", put in Tim. "We have a new name every meeting!"

"Yeah", Eliza, the shyest of their group had joined the conversation. "What was it last time? Protectors of the truth? The sibling overthrowment committee? Besides, is overthrowment even a word?"

"No it isn't. Ben, I expected better of you. I thought you were the local Mr walking dictionary."

All heads turned to the door, where Tom had removed his head from its usual position inside the bucket. He looked slightly green but better than he had ten minutes ago.

"Anyway", he continued, totally deadpan. "Those were the names on our first official meeting and the one before last, in that order. Last time it was siblings For Better Intelligence, or the FBI."

Everybody cracked up laughing, but quickly stuffed something – their fists, the bed sheets or even a pair of socks – into their mouths to stifle the laughter.

After about five minutes or so the last giggles had died down and the meeting continued, slightly more seriously this time.

"So first things first, let's review what we already know about Alpha Force." stated Ben, resuming his role as main keeper of intelligence. He was the logical choice, as, like his older brother, the bookworm had a photographic memory. He was also the only one with readable and fast handwriting.

"Most of what we know only confirms what you told us in the letter", pointed out Tom. He must have really been felling better. Usually they were luck to get more than ten words out of him in half a day.

"Yes, however for formality's sake we should go over these again", retorted Ben.

"And besides, Tim didn't get the letter AND I'm the only one with a photographic memory around here."

"Well someone's arrogant…" commented Alex, and had to duck as Ben threw a pillow at her.

"Uh, guys? Maybe we should focus on the subject at hand." Eliza, crushed between the bed and the wall.

Ben cleared his throat.

"She's right. So what do we know?"

This was the form of the meetings that worked best for them. They would start with a brainstorm of what they had already picked up via various means, legal or not, and then continue onto the main body of the meeting with everybody giving a full report of the days occurrences.

"We know that they call themselves Alpha Force", offered Alex.

Eliza added in her bit: "They met on the _Phoenix_, sailing around the world. They got – what is the word? – on a desert island and somehow managed to survive."

"Marooned, is that the word you mean?" asked Ben.

"What does marooned mean?"

"It means – well, its difficult to explain. Sorta like lost, or stranded." This time it was Tim who offered the reply.

Eliza nodded her thanks.

Ben opened his mouth to continue the meeting when there was a scratching sound and the boat juddered to a stop, throwing the cabins occupants across the tiny room.

Alex was the first to speak. "What… what just happened?"

Again, Tim was the one who answered. This time his voice was grim, and the other four didn't need to look at him to feel a sinking feeling in their stomachs.

"The boat seems to have hit something."

**Thanks to all of you who reveiwed last chapter. It is now school holidays so hopefully I'll be able to update more frequently.**

**(1) the beep test is a cruel instrument of torture meant to test your fitness skils. It involves you running along a short track and trying to get to the other end befoore the beep. After you hear the beep you run to the other side. It starts off reasonably slow but soon gets faster and faster untill it takes all of your energy just to get to the end in time.**

**Untill next update,**

**BNTN**


	6. Chapter 5

Everybody stared at Tim.

"What!" thy all exclaimed as one.

"The boat just hit something" he repeated, strangely calmly considering the situation.

For a few seconds they all sat in shocked silence.

"Tom, be a good lad and open the door will you?" asked Alex slightly frantically.

Tom tugged at the door but it refused to budge.

"What is taking him so long?" queried Eliza.

"Yeah man, how hard can it be to move a door?"

Tom glared at Tim.

"Normally, it wouldn't be that hard" he said in a haughty tone. "However, this door seems to be jammed"

"Let me try" offered Ben.

After about five minutes of very hard pulling and pushing, all five of them had to agree that they were locked in.

"Yippee" said Alex sarcastically. "We're locked in on a sinking ship. Go us!"

* * *

Up on deck, Alpha Force had also felt the shock of the boat hitting a rock and had acted with super-speed to get basic supplies up onto a rescue boat.

There was an island conveniently nearby to where the boat had crashed into the rock. As a result of Tim not being on deck, the boat had gone off course and stranded them close to the island.

That was, as Li pointed out, both a blessing and a curse. As she had said at multiple time while they were packing "If my idiot brother hadn't gone off to god knows where with his knew friend, we wouldn't be in this predicament in the first place."

"Gives you a feeling of Deja-vu, doesn't it?" commented Alex.

"Yeah", replied Hex, "Only this time we have to look after two kids who happen to be the same age as my kid brother. I shudder to think what would happen if they ever met Ben." (1)

"Talking about Tom and Tim, where on earth are they?" Amber had finished strapping down the last of the essentials into the boat that would take the seven of them off the ship and onto the island.

"I have no idea." Paulo came up on deck from where he had been searching the boat.

Alex frowned. "We've been searching for them for nearly an hour. Chances are, they've fallen overboard. Look at this."

He pointed over the side of the boat, in the place where Tom had been standing for the last week. Floating there, in the water, was a vomit filled red bucket.

* * *

"Give it up Alex" sighed Ben, watching his friend try to karate-kick the door down for the hundredth time.

"Yeah man" put in Tim, "It'll never work."

Tom had been sitting on the bed with his head in his hands but now he joined in the conversation.

"Hang on. Is there anyone around here who can pick locks?"

"Yeah, why?" Alex stopped in mid kick.

"Hmmm…" Tim said sarcastically "Maybe cause it'll help us get out?"

"Of course it will!" said Eliza indignantly, totally missing the sarcasm. "How could it not?"

Tim sighed. "I was being sarcastic."

"Oh"

Meanwhile Alex had been frantically searching her pockets for her lock picks.

"Oh… Crap."

Everyone looked at her.

"What's the problem?" asked Ben.

"Nothing much." replied Alex. "Only the fact that we're trapped in a small cabin in a sinking ship and I left my lock picks in the other cabin.

"I have to agree with Alex", said Tom. "Oh crap."

"Can't you use a hair clip to pick locks?" questioned Eliza, holding one up.

"Yes", replied Alex. "But sit tight. This is going to take a long time."

* * *

Half an hour later the five young adventurers finally found their way on deck. Luckily the ship had become more or less stable on the rocks. Unfortunately, they didn't know how much longer it would last and Alpha Force had taken the last life raft.

"How are we supposed to get off here?" grumbled Tom, looking around him.

Alex, who had her back to the island, snapped "Shouldn't you be asking where?"

"Maybe you should turn around…" suggested Tim gently.

Alex had the grace to look embarrassed.

"Sorry, I just… didn't realize that the island was there."

'How, pray tell me, do you not realize a flipping ISLAND is there?" Tom was obviously still annoyed at Alex.

The Northumbrian was about to retort when Ben walked in between them.

"Break it up you two! Fighting among ourselves won't help us get off this ship. You can argue all you want when we're safely back home. Actually, does anyone have any idea how we could get off?"

Tim looked thoughtful. "I have an idea…" he said softly. "It's crazy, but it might just work."

"Tell us, Tim" begged Eliza. "Please?"

"Ok…" replied Tim, looking out at the huge waves breaking onto the beach. "Have any of you ever surfed before?"


	7. Chapter 6

**Sorry about the really long delay. I had this chapter all planned out, but writing it was far harder than I'd expected. ****It's school holidays at the moment, so I'd say it wouldn't take me as long to update but there are no guarantees. Also, we have exams a few weeks after I get back so I'll probably be busy studying. **

* * *

Alex opened her eyes.

She was lying on a beach, with the water lapping at her feet. Staring down at her were the worried faces of three of her friends and fellow stowaways.

Tom, the only one who wasn't there, was bent over a large backpack that he had insisted on carrying with him.

"She's awake!" called someone – Ben.

Alex opened her mouth but no sound came out. She cursed inwardly and tried again. On the third attempt, she managed to emit something that sounded more like a squawk than her voice. But on the bright side, at least she was speaking.

"Hi" she finally managed.

"Hi!" Tim's voice was loaded with disbelief. "Hi! You've been unconscious for nearly a day! We thought you were dead, and Hi! That's all you can say! Hi! _Hi_!"

"Tim, you are getting hysterical" pointed out Eliza. "Calm down!"

"Calm down? How can I calm down when -"

Ben placed a hand on his shoulder with a little difficulty – the New-Zealander was at least a head taller than he was.

"Getting angry won't do anything. We need to work together and stay calm if we want to survive."

"Blah blah blah" Tim muttered, but he sounded half hearted.

Tom had finished going through his pack and walked over.

"Need a hand?" he asked, pulling Alex to her feet.

The two of them walked into the shade of a tree, with Alex leaning on the Anglo Chinese boy's shoulder – rather an awkward maneuver, considering the fact that Tom was about half her height. Neither of them noticed the dirty look Tim flung in Tom's direction.

Slowly the other three followed them. Eliza paused to pick up Tom's backpack, which he had abandoned in the sand.

"_Dios! _What have you got in here?" Her arm felt like it was about to drop off. Then again she probably didn't want to know the answer. Knowing Tom, it would be something incredibly unpractical.

The inventor looked sheepish. "Umm… let's just say it's one of my inventions. I think we have worse things to worry about at the moment."

"You did not put any food in here, did you?"

Tom looked at the ground. "Umm…"

Eliza half snorted and half laughed. "I will take that as a no."

"Sorry…" Tom began. "But you see…"

Eliza silenced him with a wave of her hand and dropped the subject for the moment. When this was over though… Tom would definitely receive a lecture about appropriate things to put in the only bag you take with you to a desert island.

Back at the tree, Alex had managed to sit up and as gratefully sipping water from a half empty water bottle that Tim had had the foresight to bring.

"How did I get here in the first place?" she asked.

"Well…" began Ben.

"We were surfing along just fine…" continued Tim.

"When we suddenly lost sight of you…" added Tom.

"It turned out that you had fallen off your –what is the word? Makeshift? Surfboard…" Eliza butted in.

"And you were submerged underwater…" Ben continued.

"When we tried to lift you up we discovered that you had somehow managed to get tangled up in some rope…"

Tom cut into Tim's statement and said: "luckily we had a knife…"

"And Tim managed to cut you free!" Concluded Eliza.

Alex managed to smile despite her pain. "You guys! You know that its really annoying when you do that, right?"

Eliza grinned impishly. "Why do you think we do it?"

"To finish off" Ben said "we put you onto my surfboard-"

"You mean skateboard" corrected Tim. There hadn't been many real surfboards around, so most of the stowaways had had to make do with improvised surfboards – in Ben's case, he had taken the wheels off his skateboard. Surprisingly enough, the thing had actually worked.

"Oh fine, we put you on my _skateboard_ and managed to pull you to shore."

"Hate to break up this very… umm… interesting discussion" drawled Tom "But you have realized that we're trapped on a desert island in the MIDDLE OF NOWWHERE WITH HARDLY ANYTHING TO EAT OR DRINK!" As he yelled, Tom's voice grew higher and louder until he was screaming so loud and so high that everyone jammed their hands over their ears.

"You really should stop getting so hysterical" commented Tim, with a completely straight face.

"So said the pot to the kettle" muttered Alex, before cracking up laughing. Ten seconds later she winced in pain and rubbed her ribs.

Unfortunately, that set the other three off. Even Tim saw the funny side to this remark and collapsed, clutching his sides from laughter, onto the ground after a few seconds. **(1)**

It was five minutes before any of them could calm down enough to start discussing practical methods of survival and escape.

"Well" Ben proclaimed, settling into 'leader mode' "Firstly, I think we need to figure out a way to survive. And frankly, I don't have a clue how. Does anyone else?"

Three of the four others gave him an 'are you #&( ( kidding me?' look.

"Alex? Isn't your dad some kind of ultimate survival expert?" prodded Ben.

Alex looked at the ground. "Well yeah he's in the SAS and knows some survival skills, but I never really listened to his lectures. They were so boring! Alex – my brother is the real survival expert, but he… he…' She collapsed into tears. **(2)**

Ben, Eliza and Tom (who all had had siblings with them on the voyage) looked like they were about to cry as well, but luckily Tim intervened.

"I might not know as much about survival as the SAS dudes, but I still know a bit. Listen up guys – here's what we've gotta do."

**

* * *

**

(1) Ok, it's probably not that funny, but they're all pretty near hysterical about their situation.

**They'd be laughing at just about anything at the moment.**

**(2) Just in case I didn't make it clear, Alpha Force thinks that their siblings are dead and vice versa.**

**Unless you really want me to (tell me in reviews) I'll skip out most of the survival stuff. If you want to read it just open your copy of **_**Survival **_**and read the bits where they learn to survive, inserting the names of Betta Force instead of Alpha Force. I'm doing this because I don't want to end up having a chapter or two that's identical to Chris Ryan's far superior book.**

**And here ****ends another exiting installment of Betta Force. Once again, sorry about the extremely haphazard update times, I'll try not to take too long with this one, but, well, as I said earlier, I do have exams so no promises there.**

**This is ****BNTN, signing out! **


	8. Chapter 7

Tim tied the final piece of wood on and stood back to look at his masterpiece. Several branches balanced perilously together forming the framework for the roof, propped up against a convenient branch which hung from a tree at about shoulder height. Palm leaves covered the framework. The shelter he had just made wasn't exactly the best looking thing in the world, but it was sturdy enough (hopefully) and had enough room for all five of them to fit under. It might be a bit of a squash, but they could manage.

A few meters away, Ben and Tom were boiling some water over a fire. Despite her injuries, Alex had been the one to find it. It seemed that the Northumbrian did remember some of her Dad's lectures after all.

At the moment, Alex was sitting under the tree and Eliza was nursing her wounds. The Argentinean was a great medic –not exactly qualified, but she still knew a lot about first aid. When asked about her first aid skills, Eliza responded with a laugh.

"Our ranch is huge." She explained. "When you go out, you are away from home for many days. Often you get hurt when you cannot reach home in time, so, my mother made us all learn first aid."

What she didn't say was that she had taught herself how to heal injuries when she went caving so that her parents – and siblings - wouldn't know where she had been. She didn't want anyone to invade her personal place – the secret network of caves under her family's ranch. With three older siblings, it was hard to find a decent place to think. Not that she'd ever be there again.

"It's finished!" The jubilant cry from Tim startled Eliza out of her reverie.

"It is?" Alex asked in a drawl, obviously feeling better. "Pray tell, what exactly is this it you speak of?"

"The shelter. It's finished. What do you think?" Tim sounded like a proud father.

"Where do we sleep?" asked Alex.

Tim looked at her like it was obvious. "The floor, of course! Where else?"

"I don't know if you know this" said Alex dryly. "But this isn't New-Zealand. There are probably poisonous animals here."

Tim went red. In his native country, he hadn't had to worry about dangerous wildlife – there wasn't any. Well apart from white tailed spiders, but everyone ignored them, and they were pretty rare anyway. He wasn't even sure if they were poisonous or just an urban legend.** (1)** Here, he had to change his thinking – and he had no idea how he'd be able to get them off the ground to sleep.

Crap.

* * *

Alpha Force were in a much more desirable situation than their counterparts on the opposite side of the island. Unlike when they had first met, the five of them possessed proper equipment, food supplies – and most importantly, Hex's palmtop, version 4.0. **(2)**

All they had to do was get a signal – unfortunately this was easier said than done. Much, much easier.

Paulo and Hex had managed to rig together a makeshift antenna and had persuaded Li to help them get some reception. **(3)**At the moment she was balanced precariously on the top branches of a nearby tree, the antenna held above her head in a pose similar to the statue of liberty. Her legs were spread wide nearly into the splits and her free hand had a death grip on a branch that looked much too thin to be able to support her.

Still, they didn't get any reception.

"Just a little higher Li" yelled Paulo cheerfully up to her. "Just a little further up – that's right. Any reception, Hex?" he asked, as Li's muscles shook with effort.

"Nope. Sorry Li – a little to the left."

Li complied. Hex glanced at the screen again and frowned.

"No, still not right. Come forward Li. Still no reception –come a bit more forward. Now-"

Hex had no time to bark out any further orders as Li overbalanced and tumbled out of the tree, into the pile of soft sand that Paulo had painstakingly put there to make sure she wouldn't get killed. After brushing off the sand and giving herself a quick once-over Li was ready to try again.

"I think we've exhausted this tree for now – maybe this one will be a bit better."

She skipped over to it, in amazingly high spirits for someone who had just spent several hours in very dangerous positions, high in a tree, on ridiculously thin branches, and had fallen off the aforementioned tree several times.

Picking up their equipment the boys followed her, exchanging glances of amusement and bemusement at their hyperactive and, as some would say, extremely insane friend.

* * *

Slighter further down the same beach where Hex, Paulo and Li were experimenting with electronics, Alex and Amber were also hard at work. Among the rations and equipment that Alpha Force had taken from the sinking ship were three two-man tents.

These had been meant for use on expeditions to islands that would take several days. There had originally been for of them – one for the girls, two for the three boys and one for Tim and Tom to share, although if Alpha Force had their way the two younger boys wouldn't be accompanying them on their excursions. Alpha Force had elected to leave one tent behind as it wouldn't be needed for just the five of them.

Alex felt a tinge of sadness as he remembered the two boys, one Asian, one Maori. They couldn't be more different, yet their age and isolation from the close knit group that was Alpha Force had made them friends. One was tall, one short. One more at home on sea than on land, one made seasick even by looking at water. Neither of them had much of a chance of being alive anymore, both thrown overboard by the force of the crash. They could both swim – Alex knew that, yet he also knew that if they had been alive they would have seen them bobbing up by the boat.

Alex shook his head to rid it of the thoughts. There was nothing he could do for the two now, short of hoping for a miracle. He set his mind on the task at hand.

The tents had gotten soaked on the bumpy dinghy ride to the island so he and Amber had carefully spread them out on the sand to dry, well above the high tide mark. While they waited for them to dry, they had collected firewood and sorted out food. The other three had helped, for a while, before Hex and Paulo had become involved in a long technical conversation Alex could only understand about one word in ten out of. Li had stayed a while longer, until Paulo had coaxed her into helping them get some reception and signal for help. The Anglo-Chinese girl was right in her element.

So Alex and Amber were left to struggle with still-damp tents on their own. And, as Amber half-heartedly complained, do just about everything else. She had been in the midst of what appeared to be a long and only half joking complaint about sexism when Alex pointed out the he was a guy, contrary to popular opinion. **(3) **Amber had remarked offhandedly that she hadn't noticed and their conversation had degraded into a sand fight, until they remembered where they were and got a hold of themselves.

It was nice to know, that even stuck on a desert island yet again none of them had lost their sense of humor.

* * *

Finally, the shelter had been made to everyone's standards, meaning that it would most likely last the night. A fire was burning on the sand and the five castaways had managed to scrounge a decent meal.

All five of them sat in a circle around the bonfire. Finally, Tom was about to come clean about what was in that mysterious backpack of his.

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls" Tom said dramatically, drawing a box out of the bag, "I present to you my most successful invention."

"You mean your _only _successful invention" quipped Alex.

"Shut up." Tom shook his head good-naturedly.

He opened the box.

"I present to you… Flyspy."

**

* * *

**

**And on that suspenseful note... I leave you.**

**(1)**** White tailed spiders are supposedly the only poisonous animals in New-Zealand. I don't even know if this is true – we mostly just ignore them if we find any, and even if they are poisonous I haven't heard of anyone being bitten, let alone killed.**

**(2) I'm not sure how many palmtops Hex has gone through, but I'm willing to guess it would be around four.**

**(3) I don't know anything about technology, so if any of this is wrong I make use of poetic license.**

**(****4) I came back from summer camp a few weeks ago. During it, we (the girls) complained about the boys hardly doing any of the cooking or cleaning. We said that that proved they couldn't do it. The boys rose to the challenge and didn't let us go near the washing up. It was a rather enjoyable dinner.**

**Sorry this chapter took so long – I had everything planned out but the words refused to flow. When they came… I wrote the majority of this in under an hour.**

**I hope you enjoyed another glimpse into Alpha Force's island life – rest assured, they will be much more important for the rest of the plot.**

**Finally – A desperate plea for help. I'm slightly ashamed to admit that I have no idea where the plot is headed in The Reunion. Any ideas you have are greatly appreciated. Thanks.**

**Lastly, here's a late Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah or anything else you may happen to celebrate.**

**Until next time**

**BNTN**


	9. Chapter 8

**After a ridiculously long time, I've finally gotten round to writing another chapter. Hopefully updates will come faster now – but no promises. Oh yes. I've been reminded that Flyspy actually belongs to someone else - I got the basic concept off a book which I vaugely remembered, and have now been reminded is S.T.O.R.M. **

**Enjoy!**

* * *

"Gather round, gather round! Ladies and gentlemen… Okay, Lady and Gentleman. Come to see the most amazing show on the island! On my right is Li, the amazing flexiwoman! And on my left is Hex, half man, half machine!"

Amber shook her head. "Paulo, you can stop yelling now. We're here."

Paulo pouted. "So? This is far more fun."

"Paulo. You will stop acting like my sister on sugar and you will start telling us what the news is."

"But Alex…"

"No buts. Do it."

Paulo groaned and opened his mouth.

"Oh, and you can say sorry to Hex for implying that he isn't human."

Amber gave Hex a look. "Hex, why are you talking about yourself in third person?"

The hacker shrugged. "I thought he'd be more likely to apologise if he didn't know I was saying it."

She rolled her eyes. "He's standing right in front of you, idiot!"

"Um… woops?"

Alex sighed. "Look, can you two stop flirting and get on with it?"

Amber and Hex looked at Alex with matching glares. He inched backwards, as if pushed over sand by the force of their anger.

"On second thoughts… forget I said anything." Alex tried to ignore the angry stares and turned to Paulo. "Look, can you explain what the news is? Can we get help or not?"

"It's good news." Paulo barely resisted the urge to salute – when Alex was in this mood, it was more or less a reflex action. Unfortunately, if you saluted to Alex in this mood he wouldn't take it very well.

"Explain."

"Well, we managed to find a place with reception. While Li clung to the tree for dear life, Hex quickly send out a message for help and got a reply back. The ship should be here in a few hours time."

"That's great! Well, we'd better get packed up. We don't want to miss the boat, do we?"

Li had to ask. "But if we're leaving this place, why do we need to take the stuff with us? It's not like we'll ever need it-"

Amber raised an eyebrow, a move she'd spent hours practising after she managed to perfect her monotone and emotionless expression.

"Do you really want to have to pay for all that once the original owners find out they're abandoned on a desert island somewhere?"

"Not really. But you're a millionaire, aren't you? Can't you pay for it?"

Amber rolled her eyes. "Money doesn't grow on trees, Li. Uncle John's going to be annoyed if he has to pay for all this."

"But that isn't the point. The point is that he _can_ pay for it."

Arguing friendlily, Alpha Force proceeded to start packing up their gear.

* * *

Four heads peered into the box.

"Is that it?" asked Tim. "You know, I was expecting something more…"

"Inventive?" filled in Alex.

"Yeah! You know, something a bit more cobbled together, not this!"

"Hey!" protested Tom, some pride wounded. "This is only half of it. And making something appear like a normal, everyday device is harder than just making something that works. I could have made Flyspy look like an invention, but then I wouldn't be able to use it in plain sight."

Ben was examining the object in the box. It looked like a normal PSP, but judging by Tom's speech, it was something else.

"What is it?"

Tom grinned, inventors pride showing up again. "This, my friends, is Flyspy."

He reached into the box and pulled out what looked like a dead fly, slightly larger than a normal fly.

"It's basically a very small portable camera. This fly is really, well… a portable spy. It has a camera and microphones, and is connected wirelessly to this PSP."

Eliza's face lit up. "Oh! I understand now! This fly of yours gathers information, while you may sit and watch it on the screen. It will appear like you are just playing a game when in reality you are spying on someone!"

"Got it in one" grinned Tom. "Ideally, you would be able to connect headphones to hear what they're saying, but this is still a work in progress. I haven't been able to get the microphones working yet.

"Also, in the completed version, the PSP would turn the video images into what looks like a 3D animation of the scene it sees to help the illusion that you're really only playing a game. There are also a few other mechanical loopholes I haven't sorted out yet, but the basic principle is sound."

"Okay, okay," said Tim. "enough technobabble. Show us how this baby works!"

"Very well. Anyway, the PSP is the screen and the controls. Movement is with the arrow keys." As he talked, he indicated the keys he was talking about. "This key switches from walking to flying. This one over here controls sound and this one controls image, in case you ever need to switch them on or off of turn the volume louder or slower. This one puts it into fly mode."

"Fly mode?" asked Ben. "What's that?"

Tom smiled. "Fly mode is my pride and joy. It's also nonexistent."

"Well that's handy." Alex, sarcastically.

"Anyway. Fly mode makes Flyspy act like an ordinary fly, so that people who are suspicious stop being suspicious, as no human would be able to fly it one hundred percent accurately. I haven't managed to o the programming properly, though. So this version of Flyspy can only fly, and its camera is quite grainy.

"Also, up until a few days ago its wireless range was way too short. I think I managed to fix that on the boat in between being sick, but we'll have to wait and see."

"Hang on." Tim had just thought of something. "If we had Flyspy on the boat, then why didn't we use it?"

Tom shrugged. "Did you think I'd let any of you lot touch my unfinished invention? No way. And I was too sick to use it. Not to mention, I told you about the short wireless connection. But we can use it now to find our way around the island without falling into any swamps or anything."

"Ok. But here's one question I have to ask – can we have a go?"

* * *

Flyspy was a success. With it, the five castaways managed to figure out how the island worked. It saw many things, but most importantly, it found Alpha Force.

Needless to say, there was a huge celebration when the five learned that their siblings were still alive. They resolved to immediately set out to find them. Unfortunately, there was a snag in the plan.

Now, the five of them stood up on the cliffs looking at Alpha Force's beach below.

Eliza summed up what they were all thinking. "Oh no! Wait for us! Wait for us!"


	10. Chapter 9

**Yes, I'm on a roll. And if anyone's still reading this, letting me know would be nice :)**

* * *

The five castaways looked down at the beach before them, the beach where Alpha Force had been until recently. But other than some marks in the sand, there was nothing to show this.

Oh yes – and a ship leaving the island.

"No." Tom was refusing to believe his eyes. "They can't be leaving us. We're so close."

The others were wearing similar expressions of shock. Mere hours ago they had thought that reunion with their siblings was so close. Now they had almost tasted success – only to have it taken away at the last second. They were trapped on the island, and they couldn't survive for ever.

Ben was the one to break them out of their shock.

"What are you guys doing standing there?" he snapped. "Come on! If we run we can still catch their attention!"

The Londoner half sprinted half skidded down the slope towards the beach. After a few seconds the others followed him, Tim and Alex quickly and Tom and Eliza more cautiously.

They reached the beach after ten or so minutes and stood there, waving desperately, trying and failing to get the ship's attention.

"Ok, this isn't working" panted Ben, still jumping up and down. "Tim, Alex. You two are best at building fires. Go get some wood and start one. Tom, Eliza. Go fetch more wood for them and lots of green plants too. We need to make a smoke pillar. No. Actually, Tom, can you rig up some kind of electrical signal? I'll go help get wood for the fire."

He looked around and saw the others staring at him. "Well? What are you all waiting for? Go!"

The five scattered. Well technically, four scattered into the forest while Tom crouched down and emptied the contents of his pack carefully onto the top of another pack. He didn't want to get sand in the equipment, after all.

Alex was the first to return from her wood-finding mission. She found an abandoned fire pit in the sand. The ashes were still smouldering. By blowing on them, she eventually managed to coax a small fire out of them. Then a slightly bigger one, and so on.

By the time Tim arrived, she had a reasonable fire going. By the time Eliza and Ben arrived hauling several large green leaves each, a large fire was crackling in the makeshift hearth.

It wasn't too hard to make the fire turn into what was essentially a plume of black smoke by adding the green plant matter. What was difficult was to make people notice it…

* * *

"Captain!"

"Yes?"

"There's a plume of smoke coming off the island!"

"Really? As I recall, you do need to get your eyes tested…"

"No! Honestly, Captain, it was real!"

"It was?"

"No. It is! Come and see, Captain!"

"Very well."

"See? It's right over there…"

"Oh, that. Those kids must have left their campfire on by accident or something."

"But I asked them, Captain, and they're positive they didn't."

"They must be wrong. How else could the fire have been set?"

"I don't know, sir. But hadn't we better go and check anyway?"

"No. We've gone far enough off course."

"But-"

"No. Do you want to be demoted?"

"No sir. As you say, sir."

* * *

Tim sighed. "It's no good, Ben. They can't see us."

"I know. But we've got to keep on working anyway. They might still be able to."

Tom raised his hand. "I know this might be a bad time… but I think I can modify my PSP to connect with computers."

"And that's going to help us…. How, exactly?"

"Have faith, Alex. Ben – your brother has a computer, right."

Ben looked up from piling more plant matter onto the fire. "Yeah… why?"

"I can connect this to his – if he's still in range, that is – and send him a message."

"How long will it take to set up?"

"It already is."

"Then why don't you send him a message already?"

Tom shrugged and turned back to work. Meanwhile, Tim and the girls backed away a bit. Ben could think well under pressure. Unfortunately, he assumed that everyone else could too and thus got really annoyed when he found out they couldn't.

It was probably best not to annoy him.

* * *

"Well this is a brilliant holiday" remarked Amber. "No, seriously. What is it with us and boats? Is there some kind of law that mean we have to get stranded on some island every time we go out on one?"

"Probably" said Li. Everyone ignored her and she shrugged. "Fine then, ignore me. I'll go talk to Paulo."

"I don't know why you're complaining" Alex said dryly to Amber. "We did get off the island easily, didn't we?"

"Yeah, but now everyone on the ship thinks we're a bunch of spoilt little brats."

"And that's different from how you usually are how, exactly?" Hex asked.

Amber hit him over the head. He was about to retaliate when a beeping noise was heard from his palmtop.

"What is it, Hex?"

Hex shrugged. "Just my brother trying to be funny."

He read the massage out to the others. "Am stuck on island. Please come back we are running out of food. Ben"

"Isn't your brother back in England?"

"Exactly. That's why it's a prank. But the thing is – I can't see who sent it. I don't think Ben is has that sort of talent with computers."

Something occurred to Alex. "And what about the 'we'? Wouldn't he have said I? Especially since your brother is supposed to be a bit of a grammar freak."

Hex nodded. "Yes. Something's going on, but I don't know what!"

"And that drives you crazy?" Amber guessed.

"Exactly!"


	11. Chapter 10

**Yes, yet another chapter. Comments would be appreciated but not needed.**

* * *

Tim groaned and lay back on the sand. He stared up at the cloudless blue sky as if it were full of threatening grey thunderclouds.

The ship had finally sunk under the horizon and was far out of reach of Tom's device.

"Are you sure you can't get another message?" Ben was asking Tom frantically.

He nodded. "Yes. I'm positive. We're lucky I managed to send that one message, if you must know."

"But if you sent that message," Eliza pointed out, "Then they should be arriving to help us, no?"

The five looked at each other.

"Hang on a second," said Alex, "Can I see that message?"

Tom read it out: "Am stuck on island. Please come back we are running out of food. Ben."

"Why did you sign it Ben?"

"Well he's the one who told me to send it, isn't he?"

Alex groaned and rolled her eyes. "Boys. Honestly, do you have any common sense at all?"

Tom looked at her, hurt. "What do you mean by that?"

Alex opened her mouth to say something but Tim shook his head, breaking the argument before it became a full blown fight.

"They think that Ben's back in London, man. If you signed it Ben they'll just think you're playing a prank on them."

Ben sighed. "Tim's right. I don't exactly have the best track record with my brother."

Alex half smiled. "Come to think of it, does anyone?"

Four heads shook.

"Sorry guys, it's all my fault" Tom wasn't to be consoled.

"It's not your fault" Eliza told him.

"But I should have remembered…"

"But you didn't" Ben said, rather matter-of-factly. "You forgot, and what's done is done. No use crying over spilled milk. Um… does anyone else have nay more figures of speech I forgot to include?"

Nobody did. The five of them lay there for a while in silence until Eliza broke it.

"But what are we going to do now?"

There was silence. Then Ben realised something.

'Hey! Why are you all looking at me?"

No one said anything, so he sighed and shook his head.

"Alright" he said. "Here's what we've got to do."

He paused and looked around, apparently deep in thought.

"We're going to carry on as we did at the other camp" he said after a long moment. "Time, we need another shelter. Eliza, can you keep the fire going and go through the supplies we've got? Alex, we need water. You know how to find it, right?"

She nodded.

"Then go find some – we're running out. Tom, stay here and watch her with Flyspy. I need you two to agree on signals in case she gets lost or if something happens down here. I'll help Tim and Alex."

Like one well trained organism with many separate bodies and a hive mind, the group scattered.

* * *

So it was that when help finally arrived, almost a day later, the five of them were sitting round a campfire toasting invisible marshmallows. Also known as not toasting anything, but Alex had insisted that they put the sticks in anyway, just for the look of it.

The 'rescuers' got a bit of a shock when they landed to find them relaxed in front of the fire, and were even more surprised when Tim waved them over and offered them some soup.

"It's not very good" he added, almost apologetically, "but it's better than what Alex tried to make."

"Hey!" exclaimed both Alex and Eliza, both of whom, as the girls, had been naturally been ordered to do the cooking in an example of gender-inequality. The boys had regretted this when they found out that, despite the stereotypes, neither of the girls was actually a very good cook. Eliza was okay, but Alex… it turned out that she could burn water.

They glanced at each other and advanced on Tim slowly and menacingly. Tom nudged Ben, and the two of them crept backwards. And collided with Hex and Li.

"Uh oh" groaned Tom.

Ben looked to see his friend being held captive by his brother. "Hey Tom!"

"Yeah?"

"Switch siblings!"

In perfect synchronisation, almost as if they'd practised it, the two of them darted forward and ran away. Or that was the plan. Instead, they just found themselves being restrained by their own siblings this time.

"Mum is going to be so angry…" Hex told Ben. "What do you think you were doing?"

For once, the bookworm was lost for words.

* * *

Eventually, the whole story came out. Alpha Force learned of how their sibling were spying on them, while the aforementioned siblings learned of how they had been found.

Once they had received Tom's message, the team had suspected that something was up. Hex was sure it was just Ben playing a prank, but he emailed home to make sure. In reply, he received a bemused message from his mother saying she was sure Ben was with 'that nice blond girl from Northumberland. You know her brother. He was with you on that ship.'

Since Alex was the only one Hex knew who fit that description, Alex checked home only to find that his sister had flown to visit a 'pen pal in Argentina'. When he wondered who this pen pal was and why it was safe to let Alex visit there, he learned that she was the 'sister of that Paulo boy you spend all of your holidays with'.

Beginning to smell a rat, Paulo checked home and found out that his sister was staying in Northumberland too, only she wasn't.

Now Alpha Force had begun to put the pieces together. They had called John Middleton, explained the situation and had politely asked to borrow enough money to hire a helicopter. Stopping only to pick up the parents of Tim and Tom, they had flown back to the island, to find the lost people calmly sitting around a campfire.

So the five of them climbed into the helicopter and flew home, where they wee eventually left to look after themselves for the few days left until they were due to fly home. Of course, Alpha Force had also left them with a strict warning about not getting up to any mischief and getting home before five.

So now the five of them were stuck worrying about how much trouble they'd get in when they got home, and complaining about how unfair it was that Alpha Force got away with having all the fun and they just got grounded.

People will be people, after all.


	12. Epilouge

"You know, we really need a name" reflected Tim, sprawled on a couch in his house. His parents had kindly offered to let the two girls live in their spare room as Tom and Li's house didn't have room for any more. Ben moved into Tom's room, and they didn't have to stay in any hotels. The five of them stayed at Tim's mostly, since Li's and Tom's was crowded with Alpha Force, and the four who had siblings desperately wanted some space.

"Yeah, we do." Alex said. "We deserve a name, anyway. We're a team and all. We've had our trial by fire."

Eliza nodded. "We are as much a team as Alpha Force, whatever they say."

"So it's agreed?" asked Tom. "We're going to keep on doing the job Alpha Force has started?"

"Whether they like it or not." finished Ben. "We've gone over this already, guys."

Tom shrugged. "Just seeking confirmation."

"So what are we going to be?" Tim again.

Everyone's eyes turned to look at Ben, by a sort of unspoken agreement.

"No, seriously, why are you guys all looking at me?"

"We know you, Ben" Alex told him. "You already have a name planned, don't you?"

"You know me too well. What do you guys think of Betta Force?"

"Betta Force?" Eliza felt the flow of it on her tongue and liked it.

"Yeah. See, it's like Beta, the second letter in the Greek alphabet. You know, they're the first team and we're the second. And it also sounds like better, 'cause we'll be better than them. Hopefully. Finally, if we spell it with two T's : B-E-T-T-A, it's made up of the letters of our names."

"Ben, Eliza, Tim, Tom, Alex." Alex said. "I like it."

One by one, the other nodded their assent.

"So it's decided. We're Betta Force."

"And the world had BETTA look out!"

"Wow, you're hilarious, aren't you?"

"I know!"

"Note the sarcasm, idiot!"

Ben caught Eliza's eye and grinned. No matter what happened, some things would never change. Tom would have his technology. Alex and Tim would quarrel constantly.

And through it all, Betta Force would be there, ready to help when it was needed.

* * *

**Wow. It's finished. I have to say, this isn't one of my betta fics (pun intended). But I really, really wanted to get it finished. And this will probably be my last multi-chapter AF fic (The Reunion has been discontinued) although I will still work on my oneshots.**

**Thanks you everyone for reviewing and for liking it, even if I don't really.**

**BNTN**


End file.
